Story
History Previous World : A harpy and an elf, a myth so unlikely that many would choose not to believe it. Harpies, spoken of with tales of undesirable looks; Elves storied for divine beauty - it was a match the minority would be able to fathom. Born from this unique match was a hybrid boy called Yuzai. They would quickly come to realize that their son was the Shepherd, a warden of magic balance, capable of casting a divine judgement. Four had served their world up until this point, making the newborn baby the Fifth - an incomparable honor. : Unexpectedly, the infant Shepherd was taken from his crib and brought away by strangers. Even after months of intensive search, the Aetherbed servants could find no sign of the Shepherd's whereabouts. Only the Shepherd's Knight Nevaeh - a daimon with the Omniscient Eye of a seer - remained adamant in his quest to retrieve the Fifth. Seven years upon Yuzai's disappearance, Nevaeh received an elucidating vision of the Shepherd's whereabouts - a land of exiles who had been punished to spend eternity with low aether for generations to come, raising Yuzai among his ranks to use him as life source. Determined to return the Shepherd to the Aetherbed, Nevaeh issued the command to have his battalion infiltrate the plagued province. The conditions of victory made no arrangements for the denizens. Mercilessly, anyone who stood in his way was cut down, and with them anyone who dared to associate themselves with the enemy. : As it turned out, Yuzai had been rendered into an apathetic weapon by those who raised him, void of emotion and empathy and used for slaughter. The priests were presented with the choice of ending the life of the Fifth or leaving him alive at the risk of him unleashing a mental state of berserk, a risk none of them was willing to take if the fate of the entire world was at stake. Nevaeh, believing the Shepherd to be the Fourth' chosen reincarnation, rose a plea for a previously unconsidered alternative; A familiar. However, the creation was to merely follow the guise of such - in reality, it was generated as an enchanting module, operated through Nevaeh's Omniscient Eye to enable permanent surveillance of the Fifth. Yuzai would call his familiar Sha'sheru. : Growing up with Nevaeh and Sha'sheru, Yuzai was educated on combat, arts, literature, languages, politics, and moral-as well as social values. Given the circumstances, Yuzai was forced into isolation, away from any outsiders and forbidden to leave the Aetherbed until he could defend himself from danger. : ... : At age 22, Yuzai was summoned for duty to investigate a series of murder. When confronted with the culprit, a battle ensued, in which the Shepherd desired to have his life taken. However, Sha'sheru switched places with their Master, being corrupted by the lethal curse that should have killed Yuzai. Finding himself unable to revert the curse, he used his Judgement to erase Sha'sheru from existence to end their suffering. With the help of a necromancer, Yuzai was later able to say his final goodbyes to his best friend, whose spirit told him to live free of their control and decide his own path, as well as take on a new familiar.